Flexible pouches are an attractive alternative to other forms of consumer packaging, including glass or plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and cartons. Pouches have distinctive practical and economic advantages in that they lie flat when empty, thereby requiring less storage space and reducing handling and shipping costs as well as lower costs of bulk waste. Flexible pouches are typically recyclable without processing and can be produced at costs comparable to rigid containers. The appeal of flexible pouches to consumers over rigid containers includes convenience: they are lightweight and easy to fit into small spaces; have a distinctive tactile appeal; and are more friendly to the environment and thus convey a lifestyle image more consistent with that of many consumers. Flexible film pouches also tend to have greater surface areas for displaying graphics and this creates more space for merchandising which further enhances the product, benefiting both suppliers and consumers alike.
Flexible pouches currently used in the packaging industry are comprised of multi-layers of coextruded materials, conventionally between two and ten layers, and more typically from four to six layers. The layers can be made of polyethylene (PE), ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH), metal foil, or polyester (PET), along with a solvent or solvent based adhesive to bind the adjoining layers.
Present art involves pouches that have been designed with a spout welded to the top opening of the pouch body during the process of sealing the pouch closed. Most spouts are made of a high density PE and this material does not readily adhere to other materials of non-similar composition. This makes affixing the spout to the pouch problematic. This is further complicated by difficulties with achieving a leak-proof seal of the spout to the pouch.
In addition to problems with the quality of seal, in some instances the contents of the pouch is filled through the spout opening after it has been attached to the pouch. This methodology is relatively slow, resulting in higher costs of manufacture and packaging. Consequently, spouted pouches can cost more than competing rigid containers requiring them to be priced comparatively higher, and many consumers are unwilling to pay this added cost despite the distinctive design and appeal of the spouted pouch.
Another material which may be used for a spout is polypropylene (PP) but the cost involved in affixing this spout to the body of the pouch is also too high to gain strong consumer interest. As well, the present art for spouts follows a common design, limiting brands owners from achieving differentiation of their products, desired in the overall appearance of their packaging. Moreover, the application of spouts to pouches for other uses aside from beverages, such as liquid foods as well as household products, cosmetics, lotions, and the like are held back by the limited range of spout sizes and lack of suitable and economical means of manufacture. Therefore while demand for pouches with spouts has been growing, spouted pouches have gained limited popularity as a packaging form. The present invention seeks to solve these shortcomings with new opportunities for different spout configurations by employing a different technology to seal the spout to the pouch and apply the spout to the outside of the pouch. These innovations will result in a reliable and low cost method of applying an attractive and practical re-closeable spout to flexible pouches and create new opportunities for spouted pouches to be utilized for a broad range of products, including health and beauty, household, medical, automotive and industrial products as well as low acid beverages, in a range of pouch and spout sizes.